5 ms·

The "more performance" is that the new line has newer hardware. It's not like the OS is doing something interesting or new - this is what you would expect when

The "more performance" is that the new line has newer hardware. It's not like the OS is doing something interesting or new - this is what you would expect when buying a new laptop versus an old laptop. The OS features seem like fairly basic QOL wins, at best. I don't really care about a generative AI background for my video calls or whatever. I guess if I were in the market for a new chromebook I'd say "oh, there are some new ones, I'll check those out" but that's kinda it.

creshal 3y ago
Yeah. The hardware is solid, but there's already been Chromebooks announced for this (or last) year's lineup with equal or better specs. And the AI features smell a lot like "we literally have no idea what AI is good for, we'll just throw it at everything and see what sticks".
- jeffbee 3y ago
  The AI features seem to just be those that can achieve adequate performance on this amount of hardware.
agloe_dreams 3y ago
This is a marketing/branding thing Google is starting this year. It isn't that the hardware is newer, it is that Google is trying to draw a line in the sand between the $159 machines and the $400 machines. Machines with a less than Core i3/Ryzen 7000 won't be branded as such, even if they come out next year. They want a buyer to walk into a store and see A $159 Chromebook and a $400 Chromebook Plus and have and idea that the money goes somewhere and gives you 'more'.
- toast0 3y ago
  Seems like it makes it easier to send your low-needs user shopping on their own. Hey, get a chromebook+, rather than having to go with them or find out where they're shopping and give them a list of ok models to buy. There have always been chromebooks with better or worse choices of hardware. This selection is certainly good. Personally, I don't shy away from Intel's mainstream core Pentium/Celeron either especially in generations where the core count is the same as i3. But Intel also sells Pentium/Celeron branded atom-series chips that I avoid because of past experience with sluggish systems and reports that they're harder to get 3rd party firmware for (once ChromeOS updates stop happening, I want to be able to put something else on these, if the thing still works)
  - agloe_dreams 3y ago
    The good thing is that Intel will probably help here. The 15th gen CPUS are branded as Intel Processor, Intel Core Processor, and Intel Core Ultra Processor. In this: Intel Processor -> Atom, Pentium, Celeron Core -> i3, i5 Core Ultra -> i7, i9 You can just say 'buy the Core CPU, no numbers, no other words'
- pjmlp 3y ago
  For $400, I get a regular laptop.
  - dsr_ 3y ago
    But then you would have to install your OS yourself! The horror!

creshal 3y ago

Yeah. The hardware is solid, but there's already been Chromebooks announced for this (or last) year's lineup with equal or better specs. And the AI features smell a lot like "we literally have no idea what AI is good for, we'll just throw it at everything and see what sticks".

jeffbee 3y ago
The AI features seem to just be those that can achieve adequate performance on this amount of hardware.

agloe_dreams 3y ago

This is a marketing/branding thing Google is starting this year. It isn't that the hardware is newer, it is that Google is trying to draw a line in the sand between the $159 machines and the $400 machines. Machines with a less than Core i3/Ryzen 7000 won't be branded as such, even if they come out next year. They want a buyer to walk into a store and see A $159 Chromebook and a $400 Chromebook Plus and have and idea that the money goes somewhere and gives you 'more'.

toast0 3y ago
Seems like it makes it easier to send your low-needs user shopping on their own. Hey, get a chromebook+, rather than having to go with them or find out where they're shopping and give them a list of ok models to buy. There have always been chromebooks with better or worse choices of hardware. This selection is certainly good. Personally, I don't shy away from Intel's mainstream core Pentium/Celeron either especially in generations where the core count is the same as i3. But Intel also sells Pentium/Celeron branded atom-series chips that I avoid because of past experience with sluggish systems and reports that they're harder to get 3rd party firmware for (once ChromeOS updates stop happening, I want to be able to put something else on these, if the thing still works)
- agloe_dreams 3y ago
  The good thing is that Intel will probably help here. The 15th gen CPUS are branded as Intel Processor, Intel Core Processor, and Intel Core Ultra Processor. In this: Intel Processor -> Atom, Pentium, Celeron Core -> i3, i5 Core Ultra -> i7, i9 You can just say 'buy the Core CPU, no numbers, no other words'
pjmlp 3y ago
For $400, I get a regular laptop.
- dsr_ 3y ago
  But then you would have to install your OS yourself! The horror!